that responsibility. to use those resources properly. to rebuild their country and establish some kind of democratic government there in iraq. you know, he also pointed out, however, that since the u.s. military will remain there for some time, he's still optimistic that all of the u.s. military could be out by the end of 2011 and pointed out that if that were to change, the iraqis would be the ones that would have to change it and gates himself doesn't think that would be politically viable for the iraqis to do that. and, finally, when asked if the war was worth it, gates, actually, thought about this for a minute before saying, look, the problem is no matter how much success the u.s. military may have had, how much success the u.s. government will have in the coming months in helping put together some kind of democratic institutions there in iraq, the war itself will always be clouded by the fact that the u.s. went to war on an invalid proposition that saddam hussein had the weapons of mass destruction. >> all right, nbc jim mic miklaszewski at the pentagon for us. thank you, mik. >> you bet. >>>
